


Fort Shepard

by rayeliann



Series: Hopeful Through the Storm [3]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Mass Effect 3, blanket fort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 09:49:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3377060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayeliann/pseuds/rayeliann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>some Kaidan and Rys post Mass Effect Trilogy</p><p>Kaidan is still working as a Council Spectre, but Shepard (Rys) is retired and keeping a low profile.  Sometimes she accompanies him on missions to help out, but for the most part she lives a life of leisure.  </p><p>Rys is a Colonist/ Sole Survivor Paragon Shep (the scars are from surviving the Destroy ending).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fort Shepard

Kaidan pressed his fingers to his temples, closing his eyes as he let out a long sigh. The soft music of the elevator droned on. It sounded distant and far away as his vision narrowed, signaling an oncoming migraine. _Of course_ , Kaidan sighed wearily. He had been gone for weeks, it was only fitting for his head to start throbbing as he returned home.

  It had to be the stress of the job taking a toll on him. The mission hadn’t… _exactly_ gone according to plan. In fact, he couldn't quite remember the last time everything had gone smoothly. Maybe he just didn’t have whatever it was that Shepard had. Maybe she had carried him through everything. Did he even deserve to be a Spectre without her?

  Kaidan pushed the doubts back as the elevator doors slid open to the apartment he shared with Shepard. Rys might have been retired, but she would have seen them written across his face, plain as day. Kaidan had no idea how she did that… how she always just seemed to _know_.

Kaidan needn't have worried, as Rys didn’t greet him at the door as was her custom. The apartment was dark, and something was… off.

Shepard’s possessions were strewn about the usually sparse and orderly apartment. The blinds had been drawn, but the bright lights of the Citadel still filtered through, throwing long, eerie shadows across the room. There was soft music playing - old Earth music, lilting and almost sad- oddly muffled sounding.

The assorted travel items Kaidan had been carrying clattered to the floor as he rushed into the apartment, his pulse quickening, and pounding in his ears.

“Shepard? Shepard! _RYS_!” With each try, Kaidan’s voice increased in volume, intensity, and hysteria. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as his neurons fired thought after thought through his mind, almost too quick to follow. Where was she? What had happened here? It looked almost as if someone had broken in… Rys might be a galactic hero, but she still had more than her fair share of enemies. Or perhaps an overzealous fan? How had they found her? What if something had happened to her? Why had he left her alone?

 There was some movement in the center of the main room, beneath a mess of couch cushions, and what looked like every blanket they owned. Kaidan’s biotics roared to life, tossing blue light bouncing around the apartment as he closed on the jumble.  

“Kaidan?” A voice answered, muffled and a bit drowsy as Rys’s rumpled red head poked out from the mess. She yawned, blinking sleepily up at Kaidan. Her gold eyes widened (first in alarm, then in amusement) when she caught sight of Kaidan crouched in a combat stance, biotics alight, brandishing a glass vase as a weapon.

Laughter bubbled out of Rys, amber eyes lighting up and her scars dancing across her cheekbones as she grinned. She laughed so much easier now, and Kaidan felt a familiar tug in his chest that always accompanied that free, weightless smile of hers. He had loved her before he knew that smile existed, when she had been worried pacing, hard eyes, and terse, guarded grins.  

“You’re crushing me.” Rys whispered softly, her words peppered with amusement. Just like that, she pulled him out of his head, and out of memories of a less happy time. Kaidan found he was crouched on the floor, on the outskirts of the pillow and blanket fiasco with Rys clasped to him. Smiling sheepishly, he released her.

Before he could ask what she had been doing, and why the apartment was in such a state of disarray, Rys turned, sweeping back a draped blanket.

  “Welcome to Fort Shepard, Soldier.” She’d used her _Commander Shepard_ voice, full of authority and deadly serious as she threw a quick salute with her free hand. Amber eyes danced over the vase Kaidan was still clutching in one of his hands as she fought back a wry smile.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to leave your weapon outside, Sir.”


End file.
